In order to increase the washing or cleaning power of washing or cleaning agents, these often comprise one or more additives. For example, in order to prevent a redeposition of finely dispersed, previously released dirt, washing agents comprise so-called graying inhibitors, such as for example carboxymethyl cellulose.
Thus, EP 054325 A1 describes a washing agent with carboxymethyl cellulose as the graying inhibitor.
Due to the low solubility of carboxymethyl cellulose in liquid washing or cleaning agents, a liquid washing or cleaning agent that comprises carboxymethyl cellulose as the graying inhibitor has so far not been available on the market. Another problem consists in that stable dispersions of the carboxymethyl cellulose in the matrix of a washing or cleaning agent are very difficult to obtain, and precipitations and phase separations occur during the storage of a carboxymethyl cellulose-containing washing or cleaning agent. In addition, on adding carboxymethyl cellulose to liquid washing or cleaning agents, an undesirable strong increase of the viscosity occurs.
All this leads to the fact that when powdered washing agents are used, into which the carboxymethyl cellulose can be incorporated without problem, there occurs a significantly lower graying of the washing than when liquid washing agents are used.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a stable liquid washing or cleaning agent with a graying inhibitor.
This object is achieved by the use of an anionic polymer in a liquid washing or cleaning agent, containing water and surfactant, for graying inhibition when washing and/or cleaning textile fabrics.
Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with this background of the invention.